As with all of our Legendary Retreats, this experience begins not when they arrive, but before they get on their first flight! The entire travel getting to the location is utilized to provide the greatest impact.

This retreat involves participants trekking into the deep snow backcountry in the Rockies or Sierras.

This is best done in a human-powered method, but can also be in conjunction with snow machines in order to get them into deep snow and completely isolated.

As the group arrives at their destination they are given a full compliment of backcountry winter gear and told, to their great surprise, they are not hiking into some grand lodge but will be surviving only using their skills in building snow caves. The sun is setting and time is limited.

After the shock and disbelief wears off, the Brutal Fact (thank you Jim Collins) remains -- the sun WILL be going down and if they want to survive, they better get digging.

Like all of our Legendary Retreats, examining and discovering common core values occurs during an exercise while they are stretched out in their snow caves.

However, the DO NOT stay the night. After 60 to 90 minutes we pull everyone out as snowcat arrives to take them to a nearby lodge and a warm evening by the fireplace. However, they believe they will be staying the night. This is how we achieve authenticity.

The next day the fun begins!

"You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than you can in a lifetime of conversation." Plato

We first capitalize on the previous days experience and follow it with more. Depending upon the group, we may have a snowman contest, sledding contests, snowball fights, woofle-ball golf, disc golf or any number of fun winter-based activities that may fit.

We will help them play together and what is better than snow for feeling like a child again. Plus, it is soft so it is diffcult to get hurt.

While this seems like fun and games, the Plato quote is absolutely true. And most of these individuals have not played with anyone in a very long time. Playing is like riding a bike, but it does take some practice to get good at it again.

After the playtime, we sit down for serious discussion. Getting back to the previous night's interviews and finding the common core values the group shares and then we look at the core values through the lens of play. Amazingly, sources of passion also come through here and spawn discussions not possible only an hour before.

The retreat continues alternating experiences and discussion until the last night when the group ends up at a beautiful resort. This lets them clean up and prepare for their return to civilization.

This format is an incredible experience by itself. When you weave amazing content into the discussion, the effect is Legendary.